Monday, January 30, 2012

Death and the Hero

One of the funnier moments in Njal's Saga was when Thorgrim went up to Gunnar's house to see if he was home and Gunnar ran him through with his halberk. Thorgrim staggered back to Gizur, who asked him if Gunnar was home. Thorgrim replied that, he did not know if Gunnar was home (he didn't actually see him) but his thrusting spear was and then died.

It is rather like a part of of Grettir's Saga when Thorbjorn attacked Atli and ran him through with his spear. As he died, Atli looked down and said that he could see that broad spears are the fashion these days. While I am not certain I could be so nonchalant in facing my own death, the epic hero was.

In The Iliad, Lycaon, a Trojan prince, grabbed his captor Achilles about the knees and begged for his life. Achilles said to him,

"Die, die, my friend. What tears are these? What sad looks spoil thy face? Patroclus died, that far pass'd thee: nay seest thou not beside, myself, ev'n I, a fair young man, and rarely magnified, and (to my father being a king) a mother have, that sits in rank with goddesses; and yet, ..., death , and as violent a fate, must overtake ev'n me."

One has to wonder. Were such men ever real or perhaps seeing the inevitability of death frees one from caring about it. Charles I of England died on this day 1649 on the scaffold, executed by Cromwell with Milton's support. He said that he was going from a corruptible crown to an incorruptible one, where no disturbance can be. Nice last words. I like the ones Joan Crawford is said to have uttered to her maid who started praying, "Dammit don't you dare ask God to help me." See, women can be brave too.

Or weeping. I forgot. I did face my own mortality and I shed a tear or two before putting on my dark glasses and walking out with my head up. And then I decided I was going to live instead.A fitting topic for winter, is it not? To be honest I have been contemplating the little courtyard garden I want to put at the side of my house when the ground gets warm enough more than death. I do follow a few garden blogs. I will be back out there with a shovel in hand because I have to dig out an 8X12X1 pit and then fill it with gravel and sand without mechanical help. And hopefully without a heart attack. I am getting to that age. :-)